Callouts & quotes from 25+ activist slides

""And maybe a follow-up on Libre. This is a product that's been wildly successful. You're now over $100 million run rate in the U.S., over $1 billion globally, and you really have one major competitor here that's -- let's call it at the upper end of the technology scale. And Abbott, I view as the low-cost, easy-to-access, very easy-to-use product in continuous glucose monitoring. So, as we think about the evolution of Libre over the next few years, how do you think about Libre staying at the lower end of the cost and ease-of-use curve versus moving up and trying to compete with your main competitor there? Thanks." — Robbie Marcus, Analyst, J.P. Morgan; "Well, I'll tell you, interestingly enough, I don't actually look at it the way you just described. I think Libre is a pretty different product. It's got tremendous capability, but given that value point that we have it priced at, it is accessible to patients all over the world.... And in our case, we have a much lower cost and far greater automated manufacturing capability to not only allow that cost, but to allow for mass production. So I'd say, at this point, we're making healthy profits on this product. We have no intention of changing the value proposition at all. And your question sort of suggests that we would raise price in order to be competitive, I'd say, you want to be asking the other side, what they're going to do to make themselves a value proposition, because this product is incredibly good value proposition, which is why it's got such high demand." — Miles White, CEO, Abbott Laboratories"

"“...abrupt material lapse in operational and financial discipline within the Company.” — Vivendi Presentation, Page 5; “Announcing a profit warning a week after issuing a bond has alienated market participants, who are losing trust in TIM.” — Vivendi Presentation, Page 8; “The three-year strategic plan presented by the former management in March 2018 had broad market support.” — Vivendi Presentation, Page 10; “...important need for any plan to contain key pillars, such as focus on enhanced FCF generation, deleveraging, digitalization and improved customer satisfaction, in order to drive value creation.” — Vivendi Presentation, Page 15; “The opaquely worded outlook for 2019 suggests that the bad news is likely to keep flowing as the company seems rudderless and adrift in turbulent waters.” — Vivendi Presentation, Page 36; “New CEO Luigi Gubitosi is throwing the kitchen sink at his predecessor’s ambition to grow domestic EBITDA....” — Vivendi Presentation, Page 36; “These procedures were not followed for the nomination of Luigi Gubitosi as CEO, [whose nomination was] pre-packaged during the shadow meetings held by Elliott representatives and Elliott-nominated Board Members.” — Vivendi Presentation, Pages 37, 39; “None of the new candidates want to be the CEO...and none of the independent directors wants to be Chairman....in other words the chairman will be chosen among the five proposed independent directors and the CEO between the two not-independent directors (De Puyfontaine and Genish).” — Vivendi Presentation, Page 3"

""However, logic suggests that once the plc:Ltd discount exceeds 14%, as it presently does (although only slightly), it becomes incrementally harder to justify an off-market Ltd buyback to a large portion of the total BHP Billiton shareholder base" — Macquarie, February 17, 2011; "If the DLC were to be collapsed, then every dollar returned via a buyback would be done through the buyback of Ltd shares which provided sufficient franking credits existed, could be done at a ~14% discount to the prevailing share price on the day." — UBS, July 14, 2014; "Despite having a comparable average dividend yield of ~2.5%, over the past 10 years, Exxon returned a further ~US$225bn via buybacks taking its overall average annual dividend and buyback yield to 7.3%" — Macquarie, July 29, 2014; "No capital return (this time) We think the market is (quite) disappointed with the lack of buyback / capital return." — Bank of America, August 19, 2014; "Despite >US$30b spent, failed tilts at RIO and Potash Corp and overpaying for US Shale suggest M&A is not BHP's raison d'être." — Citigroup, May 27, 2016; "At spot prices BHP would have even stronger free cash flow generation, largely thanks to iron ore, and be able to significantly increase shareholder returns." — Citigroup, Feb 21, 2017"

""Should it occur, we would view the separation of TKR’s steel and bearings businesses as a positive." — Gary Farber, C.L. King, 2/20/13; "Our sum-of-the-parts valuation suggests a $69 target price ($52 + $17). However, given the disparate nature of the assets and investors’ preference for pure plays, we believe that an above-average conglomerate discount is likely required to entice investors." — James Kawai, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, 11/14/12; "Our sum of the parts ... suggests a valuation closer to $55, but we agree that the market is unlikely to properly reward either the steel or the bearing business for the secular improvements they have made as long as these businesses remain combined." — Stephen Volkmann, Jefferies Group, 11/29/12; "In the long run, however, we agree with Relational and CalSTRS’s positioning that the company would perform better if it separated into two separate entities." — Samuel Eisner, William Blair, 11/28/12"

"This pattern suggests that Phillips 66’s board is using these repeated proposals as a distraction tactic while failing to deliver tangible governance reform that shareholders seem to support. If the desire to declassify is genuine, one would think the board would accept the remedy that Elliott has proposed. — Professor Mark DesJardine, Dartmouth Tuck School of Business; Phillips objects to the Elliott proposal, weakly arguing that it “contravenes well-settled principles of Delaware corporate law and would be highly unlikely to withstand scrutiny in Delaware courts… The problem with this argument is that it ignores the simple fact that directors are free to resign their board positions at any time, and nothing in the Phillips charter or bylaws possible can be construed as preventing directors from voluntarily offering to resign..” — Professor Jonathan Macey, Yale Law School and Yale SOM"

""This pattern suggests that Phillips 66's board is using these repeated proposals as a distraction tactic while failing to deliver tangible governance reform that shareholders seem to support." — Professor Mark DesJardine, Dartmouth Tuck School of Business; "Phillips objects to the Elliott proposal, weakly arguing that it 'contravenes well-settled principles of Delaware corporate law and would be highly unlikely to withstand scrutiny in Delaware courts... The problem with this argument is that it ignores the simple fact that directors are free to resign their board positions at any time, and nothing in the Phillips charter or bylaws possible can be construed as preventing directors from voluntarily offering to resign.." — Professor Jonathan Macey, Yale Law School and Yale SOM"

""This pattern suggests that Phillips 66's Board is using these repeated proposals as a distraction tactic while failing to deliver tangible governance reform that shareholders seem to support. If the desire to declassify is genuine, one would think the Board would accept the remedy that Elliott has proposed." — Professor Mark DesJardine; "The problem with [Phillips 66's] argument is that it ignores the simple fact that directors are free to resign their board positions at any time, and nothing in the Phillips 66 charter or bylaws possibly can be construed as preventing directors from voluntarily offering to resign." — Professor Jonathan Macey"

""This pattern suggests that Phillips 66’s Board is using these repeated proposals as a distraction tactic while failing to deliver tangible governance reform that shareholders seem to support. If the desire to declassify is genuine, one would think the Board would accept the remedy that Elliott has proposed." — Professor Mark DesJardine; "The problem with [Phillips 66’s] argument is that it ignores the simple fact that directors are free to resign their board positions at any time, and nothing in the Phillips 66 charter or bylaws possibly can be construed as preventing directors from voluntarily offering to resign." — Professor Jonathan Macey"

"“Evidence strongly suggests that the time commitment required to be an effective board member... has jumped in recent years.” — ISS 2016 Proxy Policy Update; “We believe the volatility of this situation, including Elliott's push for [Dr.] Kleinfeld to be removed from his position as CEO of Arconic, may further distract from [Dr.] Kleinfeld's board commitments at the Company.” — Glass Lewis, 2017 HPE Proxy Paper; “There isn't a corporate/shareholder event of prestige Klaus often declines so as to put in more hours at the office...” — Cara Goldenberg, Value Walk, May 15, 2016"

""...the presence of an activist investor suggests that shareholder friendly capital allocation focus could persist...Activist investor Starboard Value reported acquiring an 8.4% stake in Huntsman on September 28, 2021 and shortly thereafter publicly shared slides noting, among other things, "We believe there is a meaningful opportunity for margin improvement." As such, we think operational efficiency potential or portfolio management announcements are likely to remain top of mind over the near-to-medium term." — Morgan Stanley, November 2021"

"The United States has significant concerns with the planned rule changes under the Proposed Settlement. Evidence from other multiple listing services suggests that merely tweaking a buyer-broker commission rule to allow zero-percent commissions does little to “unfetter a market from anti-competitive conduct and ‘pry open to competition a market that has been closed by defendants’ illegal restraints.’” — DOJ Statement of Interest in Nosalek v. MLS Property Information Network, Inc."

"We are upgrading shares of Plug to Buy (from Neutral) as the company passes an inflection point. We expect valuation to be driven by visibility for Plug continuing on impressive revenue growth trajectory, outlook for record revenue and EBITDA in 4Q19, and material EBITDA profitability in 2020. The outlook for 2020 where we forecast material EBITDA production of $35.5m suggests Plug is clearly passing an inflection point. — Sell-side analyst report"

""This pattern suggests that Phillips 66's board is using these repeated proposals as a shield against activism while failing to deliver tangible governance reform that shareholders clearly seem to support," Prof. DesJardine wrote: "If the desire to declassify is genuine, one would think the board would accept the remedy that Elliott has proposed." — Mark DesJardine, associate professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business"

"Müller: I'll start with something easy. Mr. Tüngler, Ströer Venture. Ströer Venture is, as its name suggests, a vehicle that we will use to invest in promising, mainly digital, business models where we are not yet sure whether or not they will form part of our core business in the short and medium term, but where we see the potential that they may do so in the future. That is why we founded Ströer Venture. — Udo Müller"

"“potent inhibitor of CYP2D6 and hERG” — Raddatz et al. “our laboratory findings suggest that CYP2D6 inhibition...would likely be important hurdles for this novel compound” — Abbott scientists. “in vitro profiling in our laboratory (and others) suggests that BF2.639 [pitolisant] has both a CYP2D6 liability...and potent hERG channel K+ blockade.” — Evotec scientists."

"“DuPont’s inability to deliver on Kullman’s agenda suggests that she needs more help to overcome the 100+ years of history and the inertia that comes with that; Trian can be Kullman’s best ally. For shareowners, Trian’s impact is already very clear.” — CLSA “4Q14: Just the outlook” analyst report on DuPont"

"“DuPont’s inability to deliver on Kullman’s agenda suggests that she needs more help to overcome the 100+ years of history and the inertia that comes with that; Trian can be Kullman’s best ally. For shareowners, Trian’s impact is already very clear.” — CLSA “4Q14: Just the outlook” analyst report on DuPont"

"DuPont’s inability to deliver on Kullman’s agenda suggests that she needs more help to overcome the 100+ years of history and the inertia that comes with that; Trian can be Kullman’s best ally. For shareowners, Trian’s impact is already very clear. — CLSA “4Q14: Just the outlook” analyst report on DuPont"

"in vitro profiling in our laboratory (and others) suggests that BF2.649 has both a CYP 2D6 liability (IC50 = 0.4 µM) and potent hERG K+ channel blockade (IC50 = 0.49 µM). — Evotec researchers (2009 paper)"

"Our due diligence suggests that the underlying gross margins of P&G’s categories could be as high as 54%. This analysis takes into account P&G’s scale as well the premium pricing of its leading brands"

"A 2018 Forbes article suggests a total CPAP population of 8 million, growing at 8-9% a year. This would imply between 600k and 700k new CPAP prescriptions a year."

"Supermicro has denied allegations of a security breach, but the company’s share price suggests that the market is skeptical of management’s defense."

"The report suggests that the patient believed that the emboli were associated with pitolisant but that "nobody" believed him."

"Quantum startup CEO suggests we are only five years away from a quantum desktop computer — TechCrunch article, Sep 2020"

"Moody’s suggests an upper bound of 3.5x debt/LTM EBITDA for the current rating level of Baa2."